Author: Phillip Colon

Frankfurt (22/09 – 58.33) Since May 2022, the Tajikistani authorities have stepped up their ongoing crackdown on Pamiris, an ethnic, linguistic and religious minority originating from the Pamir mountains in Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast of Tajikistan. They have arbitrarily detained hundreds of Pamiris, including civil society activists and human rights defenders, and imprisoned over 200 of them after convictions in unfair trials, in a campaign aimed at stripping the local communities of their leadership and dismantling their civil society. The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Pamiri civil society activists, journalists and human rights defenders who have been detained solely…

The newly released U.S. News and World Report rankings features numerous Michigan colleges and universities, including two within the top-100 of all national universities. The methodology for the national university ranking is based on a variety of factors, including graduation rates, peer assessment and graduate performance at the largest ones. The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is the highest ranked Michigan university in the country at No. 21 nationally. This is four spots higher than last year, and it ranks third among public universities behind the University of California-Berkeley and University of California-Los Angeles, which are tied at No. 15. Princeton University ranked…

The US Department of Health and Human Services has called on the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to loosen federal rules on cannabis. The drug is illegal at the federal level despite 40 of 50 US states having passed laws legalising its use in some form. Cannabis is currently listed in the same class of drugs as heroin and LSD. If the DEA changes its classification, it could mark the most significant shift in US drug policy in decades. Cannabis is currently classified as a schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning it has no medical use and a…

The August 21 announcement that Indonesia will buy 24 F-15EX fighters from BoeingBA -0.3% is a breakthrough for the nation’s biggest aerospace company, and a further success for the Biden administration’s strategy of strengthening ties in the Indo-Pacific region. Indonesia, with a population of 280 million, is the world’s third largest democracy (after India and the US). In dollar terms it has the world’s 16th largest economy, but adjusting for the domestic purchasing power of the Indonesian currency, it actually ranks among the top ten economies. Geopolitically, the island nation occupies a strategic position astride major shipping routes in Southeast Asia, and…

Hong KongCNN — US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo urged American businesses to keep investing in China on Wednesday, even after saying some US firms had called the world’s second biggest economy “uninvestable.” Speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce event in Shanghai, the secretary encouraged companies to continue expanding in the country. “The message is to continue to do what you’re doing,” Raimondo told executives. Her comments underscore the tension at the heart of the relationship, which was laid bare on Tuesday as she reportedly rejected a request by Beijing to ease US export and investment controls, despite exchanging plenty of warm…

An Iranian-American woman known for her NGO work in Afghanistan has been arrested in Iran, intensifying diplomatic tensions, a government newspaper reported. The arrest has prompted the United States to suspend the implementation of a planned prisoner swap deal with Tehran, as reported by Iran’s state-run Khorasan newspaper. The woman’s identity has not been disclosed, with sources citing the need to protect ongoing negotiations over her release. This latest arrest follows the detention of a fourth US national in Iran, as previously reported by Semafor news website. The inclusion of this new case has now become a pivotal element in…

$1.2 billion program marks a global first for a controversial strategy for fighting climate change The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced it will spend $1.2 billion for two pioneering facilities—one in Texas, the other in Louisiana—that will remove millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually from the atmosphere using a technology known as direct air capture (DAC). Part of a controversial effort to combat global warming, the awards represent the first phase of $3.5 billion in funding for DAC hubs set aside in last year’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and mark the first major governmental backing in the…

Industry points the finger mainly at government’s focus on electric vehicles, but recent fuel tax credits are also criticized The product that sparked the first big global grain rally of the 21st century is under attack in the United States, according to an industry official. Various U.S. federal government regulations are promoting electric vehicles and other low-carbon options at the expense of ethanol, according to Geoff Cooper, president of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), the leading trade association for the U.S. ethanol industry. A prime example is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed multi-pollutant emissions standards for model years 2027-32…

Colombo (25/7 – 30.77) In his book “Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Massacre: Lessons for the International Community,” terrorism expert Dr. Rohan Gunaratna emphasizes the importance of de-radicalizing Islamic ideology to effectively combat Islamic terrorism. He identifies Wahhabism or Salafism as the root of Islamic terrorism, rapidly spreading worldwide through modern communication tools. Gunaratna warns that merely arresting perpetrators after attacks is insufficient; the focus should be on preventing radicalization in the first place. The Easter Sunday bombings in April 2019, which claimed over 200 lives, were fuelled by extremist ideologies inspired by events in the Middle East and Islamic extremists…

Periodic visits by US nuclear ballistic missile-capable submarines to South Korea were one of several agreements reached by President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in April in response to North Korea’s expanding nuclear threat. South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol boarded an American nuclear-capable submarine in the southern port city of Busan on Wednesday. It was the first time in more than four decades that a United States’ submarine of this type has docked in the country. And the president’s visit to it was intended to send a strong message to North Korea. “South Korea and…